Escondido Land & Town Co., which began developing the area in 1886, believed that churches were a fertile foundation for a great community.

They offered free lots to all faiths, which resulted in the building of seven churches.

When the Methodist-sponsored University of Southern California was founded in 1880 in Los Angeles, the board proposed building a church and seminary in Escondido.

The Methodist Episcopal Church Society received 1,000 lots, valued at $100,000. Most groups didn't receive as much land, but this large gift enabled the society to sell lots to raise money for construction of the seminary and church.

Seven Methodists organized, then incorporated in 1886. They chose a lot at Grand Avenue and Ivy Street.

The Escondido Times noted in November 1886 that the Methodist Episcopal Church Society was building. The 250-seat sanctuary was dedicated in 1887.

The Escondido Land & Town Co. ran front-page advertisements in The Escondido Times at the end of that decade:

"Escondido is made up almost entirely of Eastern people . . . Lands to the value of $250,000 have been deeded by EL&TCO as an endowment for the Escondido College (Escondido Seminary), the construction of which has already commenced. The Methodist Episcopal Church Society now has in the course of erection a church edifice of brick that will cost $8,000, and the Christian, Protestant Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal South, Roman Catholic and Congregational churches are making arrangements to build."

In 1890, it ran an ad saying, "Escondido possesses railroad, college, school and church advantages second to no other place in this fair land."

The Methodist Episcopal Church served its congregation for decades, until it outgrew the building in 1921. The building was sold to Grace Evangelical Lutherans. It later housed a dance studio and was demolished in 1964.

A Baptist group built a sanctuary at Third Avenue and Ivy Street in 1887. After the group moved to a building at Fifth Avenue and Kalmia Street in 1910, the old structure was converted to apartments and later demolished.

The Methodist Episcopal South group chose a lot at Fourth Avenue and Orange Street. In 1887, they constructed a brick church with a wooden steeple. That building still stands.

Four Congregationalists met at Lime Street School to organize in 1888. They built a brick church at Third Avenue and Maple Street later that year. The church was demolished in 1959.

Roman Catholics formed an Escondido congregation in 1888. The diocese acquired land on Seventh Avenue above Kalmia Street. The church was dedicated as St. Mary's in 1893. The site is still known as "Catholic Hill," even though the building was demolished after the congregation moved to a new location.

Episcopalians chose a corner lot at Third Avenue and Juniper Street. Members converted a simple board-and-batten dwelling into Trinity Mission in 1889. The congregation built a permanent church on the site in 1905; it served worshippers until the 1960s. The old building is now vacant.

In 1889, the Methodist Episcopal Church Society Seminary was completed. It was a three-story brick building with a metal roof and a five-story belfry, perched on the highest downtown hill. The seminary was closed for financial reasons, and the building was turned over to Escondido High School in 1894.It was used as the high school until the late 1920s.

In 1894, First Christian Church of Escondido erected a small building at Second Avenue and Juniper Street. It was demolished several years later, after the congregation moved to 13th Avenue and Juniper.

Many more churches followed as the city grew, cementing the foundation foreseen by the founders.